Analemmatic Sundial

Since I moved to Cape Town over two years ago, I have walked through Green Point Park almost every day. Many of the regular park staff greet me with a smile and a welcome comment; I always feel very much at home in the park. And it is with keen interest that I observe the daily progress of the bird-life, the building of their nests and the hatching of their young, and the flowering of the plethora of Cape plants. I am blessed with the time to witness the annual progress of nature.

In the middle of one of the open grass areas of the park, there is a semi-circle of small pillars. I had sometimes wondered what they represented, but my curiosity was not great enough to deviate me from my path: until recently.

I found that there were 14 small pillars in a semi-circle, numbered from 6 to 19, and at right angles, two elliptical shapes marked with the months of the year.

I was still none the wiser until I read the explanation on the sign, and then all was revealed.

It was a normal Cape sunny day and I decided to test the sundial. Following the instructions, I stood on the mark at July, stretched up my arms, noted the time, made the necessary adjustment as per the instructions and compared it to the time in my phone. The latter was one minute slow!